The Nano Diaries

The Nano Diaries

By Janelle Nanos, April 30, 2010

There are those of us who crave the open road. And then there are those of us for whom a road trip means ensnaring oneself in some of the world's most notorious traffic. One such person is Vanessa Able, an aptly-named British journalist who set out from Mumbai and has been road-tripping through India for the past several months. Her saving grace? The journey is taking place via a bright yellow Tata Nano. This Indian-designed car costs about $2,500 and is the cheapest in the world, and has the potential to revolutionize the way the country travels. Able is blogging at The Nano Diaries, and I asked her to share some experiences from the not-so-open road. The idea of driving across India and doing it in a Nano surfaced at the same time. I was thinking a lot about the Nano, and what it means in India and in the world to have such a cheap, accessible vehicle on the market. And how that affects and reflects India's social and economic development and the recent boom of its middle classes. After all, with money comes leisure time and the luxury option of a holiday: the freedom of the road is suddenly open to many thousands of Indians. And there are so many tales about crossing India in every form of transport, from camels to rickshaws to Enfields and Ambassadors, I figured it was appropriate to add the Nano to that list.














More here: http://www.nanodiaries.com/

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